


Polaroids

by 80sGayTrashGoblin



Series: BAltDAU [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Genre: Actually Involves Plot, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAltDAU, Background Relationships, Crossover, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Past Revealed through photos, other characters referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/80sGayTrashGoblin/pseuds/80sGayTrashGoblin
Summary: Mia and Matt had just finished a mission, with Akira gone as usual. An envelope has been left lying on his desk, so of course, they snoop.Set in BAltDAU, it makes more sense if you read some of the other stories first.
Series: BAltDAU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1794631
Kudos: 2





	Polaroids

**Author's Note:**

> This has a little bit of plot, but it's more focused on Akira's backstory rather than anything else. Also, prepare to be sad. 
> 
> I wrote this a while ago and shared it with the peeps on Discord, but figured I'd post it here too.

"God, Chomni really is a bitch," Mia groaned, wincing as her back protested. Mia and Matt had just finished a join mission with Olia's squad, and Akira was still on a solo mission. He was supposed to take out a galra base on Sothea on his own, a planet well known to be a death trap on a good day. Granted, he had also reclaimed Gognurn, Rodogawa, Lizeon and Lodotov by himself, as well as many others, so he was probably going to be fine. 

"Hey, were these always here?" Matt asked, causing her to look up from where she had flopped onto her bunk. He was standing over Akira's desk, with the universal map plopped over several galactic maps, battle plans and array of notes spread out like last time. But this time there was also a small envelope, tucked between the Jellyfish Cloud and the Acallaris Galaxy. 

"Nope." Mia stood up, walking over to his side and picking up the envelope. 

"Come on, we shouldn't snoop through his stuff," Matt said, reaching to grab the envelope from her hands. 

"It could be a message from the commander." She simply leaned back and held the envelope out of reach. "Or it could be in that weird language that he writes his notes in that we don't understand. Chill Matt. It'll be fine." 

He huffed as she opened it, reaching in to grab what's inside. There were... five polaroids. "That's not what I was expecting." 

"What were you expecting then?" 

"I don't know but this wasn't it." 

Mia turned the photos over in her hands. The first was of an asian preteen and an older woman, probably his mom. He had wild dark hair and bright eyes, dressed in a uniform that she didn't recognize. The woman looked similar, though littered in scars that suggested that she had seen battle, a leg brace on her knee. She was embracing him as they smiled for the camera, smiles of genuine joy. The backdrop was a simple light blue screen with a label in the corner: Galaxy Garrison Academy. 

The second was a group, featuring the same kid as the first one, only older. They all wore the same uniform as before, only with different patches on their arms, and a graduation cap on their heads. The small one with wild hair and glasses was perched on the large one's shoulders, both of them in a deep belly laugh. One kid with jet black hair had his face in his hands, and the other dark haired teen was also laughing and slapping the kid from earlier on the back, who was sputtering through a red face. 

The third was a group picture again. They were all young adults now, and wore different uniforms this time that made them all look like crayons, helmets in their hands. The jet black haired teen was replaced with a young woman with blonde hair in a bun dressed in pink. The large one wore orange and the small one wore green. The brown haired teen who had smacked the other wore blue, and the man who was in all the pictures so far wore red. They all were covered in scars and had the look in their eyes of seeing battle, but they all still laughed among themselves like someone told a joke. 

The fourth polaroid was of the man again, just in a red tracksuit, and a young girl. He was brushing her hair out while she read a book, on a nice looking couch. She clutched a stuffed lion close, and a second look revealed that she wasn't human like everyone else. The eyes, the wings, the claws barely visible on the tips of her fingers gave her away. And yet the man's eyes showed how much he loved her. 

The fifth and final polaroid looked like it took place on a balcony overlooking a field of flowers at night. The man dressed in blue earlier was now in a suit, on his knee with a box in his hands. He was proposing to the man who has been in all of these pictures, tears gathering in his eyes as he holds his hands to his face. Mia didn't even need to know the two to know that he said yes. 

She handed them to Matt, who then started flipping them over. "Mia, these have writing on the back." 

Mia looked over his shoulder, ignoring his protests as she squinted. It seemed to be the first picture he had flipped over, but it was written entirely in Japanese. "I can't read that." 

"No shit." Matt sighed. "Back away and I'll read it to you." 

She shuffled backwards. "Weeb." 

"Shut up." Matt cleared his throat. "ありが-" 

"You dumbass!" Mia kicked him. "In a language I can understand!" 

Matt rolled his eyes. "Thank you mother, for being the one to help me achieve my dreams despite everyone around me telling me that it was impossible or a waste of time. I love you. Akira." 

She had tears gathering in her eyes. "That's so sweet- wait, Akira?!" 

Matt flipped through the pictures again. Sure enough, the one person who was in all of them were a younger Akira. 

"Holy shit." Mia poked him in the shoulder. "Keep reading them, keep reading them!" 

"Okay! Okay!" He flipped the next photo over. "Oh, this one's in English." 

She looked over his shoulder again. "Explorer Team 404. There is no other group of idiots that I would rather be getting into dumb shit with, even if you all give me gray hairs. Hunk, Pidge, Sven, Lance, and Keith?" 

"Maybe Akira is his middle name, and Keith's his actual name?" Matt shrugged. 

"He never gave us his actual name, just Akira." It hit her then: they both trusted him with their lives and yet they hardly know anything about him. 

"Lance, isn't Lance your brother's name?" Matt asked again, flipping the picture around. 

"Yeah, but that doesn't look like him." Mia squinted at it. "He does look similar, but that's not him." 

"Weird." Matt flipped over the next picture. _'My brothers and sister in arms. I love you all. Allura, Hunk, Pidge, Lance, Keith.'_

"I wonder what the uniforms mean," Mia thought out loud. "They all have a v on them, and they all have that weird crest on them." 

Matt just shrugged, flipping the next one over. _'You're the light of my life, the reason I fight to protect this planet. I love you, my daughter.'_

"Woah, he has a daughter?!" Mia's eyes widened impossibly large. "Who'd he have to bang to get a child with wings?!" 

"Mia, he's gay. She's probably adopted." 

"Oh. Right. That makes sense. Still, we never heard about her. Or his friends." 

"It might just be a sore subject for him," Matt muttered. "He was a galra prisoner for seven years. What do you think happened to them?" 

"Oh." A somber air covered the room for a few moments, before he flipped the last picture. It was in a different handwriting than the other four pictures. 

_'I managed to snag this picture while I proposed, for you to hang up on the wall or do whatever with. You are the love of my life, and we've been through so much together. I wanted to propose while the sky was starting to clear, so we could finally have that farm on the hillside with goats and adopted children. I've killed for you and died for you, and I want to live for you too. - Lance'_

"That's adorable," Mia sniffled, frantically wiping tears from her eyes. 

"You're crying?" 

"It was really touching, okay? Don't pretend like you aren't, either!" 

Matt wiped his eyes, before slipping the photos back into the envelope. "So he had a mother, was enlisted in the 'Galaxy Garrison Academy,' had an adopted daughter, a fiancé, and a family. And was a soldier who at least fought in something." 

Mia frowned, burying the questions she had in the back of her mind. "So, we pretend we didn't see anything?" 

"Yeah. That's probably for the best." 

They put the envelope back onto the table, and when Akira came back, acted like everything was fine. Neither of them brought up the polaroids.


End file.
